PokerStars Launching Shared Pools in Michigan, New Jersey

A couple of days of server maintenance might be a small price to pay for players across New Jersey and Michigan, as something big might be on the horizon very soon. Although there hasn’t been an announcement, shared liquidity is all but officially coming.

PokerStars First MSIGA Operator in Michigan

On December 9, PokerStars announced a planned two-day downtime in New Jersey and Michigan for December 12 and 13. The server maintenance is going to affect all three major services – poker, casino, and sports betting – and is part of what PokerStars USA called a “major upgrade of the site”. The purpose of the scheduled downtime is to get ready for the shared liquidity between the two states.

Sharing player pools between Michigan and New Jersey means that players from both states will be able to compete with one another. PokerStars USA said the maintenance was part of a larger plan to “bring more games, bigger prize pools & guarantees in poker tournaments”, in which players from both states can participate.

The servers should be fully operational on December 14, and PokerStars USA is going to announce on Twitter when they are. An official date for the completion of the sharing liquidity process wasn’t mentioned, however many speculate that it’s probably going to be at least a few days post-maintenance.

The player pool sharing is possible under the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), in which Michigan was officially accepted back in May, with it receiving the green light in April.

Multi-State Online Poker Picking Up Speed

Before Michigan was accepted, MSIGA’s roster of member states only included Nevada and New Jersey, with Delaware completing the list, as that’s where MSIGA is based. The general idea behind sharing player pools between states is that this should be beneficial for both the players, as well as the operators. Plus, it gives fans another thing to get excited about.

PokerStars is the first operator in Michigan to take advantage of shared liquidity. WSOP also has a foothold in the state, but both it, as well as BetMGM, which is also licensed there, haven’t divulged too much information on whether such a move can be expected or not from them.

WSOP’s experience with shared liquidity is already under the umbrella of MSIGA, so it involves Delaware, alongside Nevada and New Jersey, so a move to include Michigan makes sense. However, PokerStars has basically beaten it to the punch, since few of the prerequisites have been fulfilled by WSOP, while PokerStars is ready to announce soon. It’s still unclear if or how this could affect WSOP in the long term, however in the short term, PokerStars is on the right track, especially with the holidays underway.

Another point that often comes up when discussing multi-state online poker is the question of Pennsylvania, which has a booming online poker market, that many have their eyes on if it ever decides to join the MSIGA.